Aldine Baked Beans

Ingredients

Instructions

Wash the dry beans in cold water. Soak them overnight with enough water to cover them. Cook the beans in the same water that you soaked them in--add salt, stir, and cook over medium heat. Stir while they are cooking. To test if they're done, taste one to make sure that the bean is soft and not hard. If it's soft, they're done. If it's hard, continue cooking.

Fry the bacon and cut into smaller pieces and add to the beans/water. Put 3 TBSP of the bacon grease into the beans. Add the pepper and the sugar. Stir everything together.

Place entire mixture in a Dutch oven, making sure there is enough water to cover the beans and bake at 300 degrees for three hours. Do not put a lid on the Dutch oven. Don't stir them after putting in the oven. They bake really slowly at first and you think they're not doing anything.